Four hotels in Bengal

A STAFF REPORTER

Calcutta, Nov. 1: Jain Group — the city-based real estate player with interest in the hospitality sector — will invest more than Rs 300 crore to build four hotels in Calcutta, Siliguri and Durgapur by 2015.

It has signed a branding and management contract with Best Western International for its upcoming five-star, 150-room hotel in Rajarhat. It will require an investment of around Rs 100 crore and is expected to be operational by December 2013.

Jain Group, whose revenues are likely to touch Rs 750 crore by the end of this fiscal from Rs 200 crore last year, is looking to develop more five- and four-star properties.

“We have committed four hotels, two in Calcutta and one each in Siliguri and Durgapur. The Jain group is eyeing aggressive expansion in Tier II cities such as Durgapur, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar. According to a recent Crisil report, rural spending beats urban spending by a margin of around 25 per cent. Keeping this in mind we have firmed up plans to utilise the vast untapped market in these Tier II cities across the entire eastern India. We will have another budget hotel at the entrance of New Town,” said Rishi Jain, director of Jain Group.

The property in Siliguri, likely to be completed by March 2014, will be North Bengal’s first five-star hotel at an investment of Rs 80-85 crore. The hotel in Durgapur will be a four-star property in association with an international brand.

The company, which has so far developed 2.5-3 lakh sq ft of retail space on an average per year, hopes to add 5 million sq ft by 2015, having ventured into the real estate business in 2004 under the Dream Homes brand.

“By 2015, we plan to have 8-9 hotels. We have bought space for two, while two are awaiting sanctions. We have identified locations for others,” Jain said.

It aims to build projects worth Rs 2,000 crore within three years and is bullish about growth on the outskirts of Calcutta such as Madhyamgram. Jharkhand is also on the radar.